Usha FP 3811 Food Processor Review

Usha FP 3811 is one of the best-selling food processors in India. It comes with a range of attachments and 3 jars which helps it replace a mixer grinder in the kitchen. There are close to 4000 customer ratings for the product on Amazon with an average of 3.8 stars.

So how well does this food processor perform? Is it easy to clean? Is it safe? How does it compare with other top-selling food processors? Let us explore this in detail through this hands-on review.

Jars

The Usha FP 3811 food processor comes with 3 jars. The chutney jar and multipurpose jar are made of stainless steel with plastic lids, while the blending jar is made of polycarbonate. The chutney jar has a capacity of 500 ml. The multipurpose jar has a gross capacity of 1.2 litre, but a net capacity of 800 ml ( 2/3rd its gross capacity). The blending jar has a net capacity of 1.8 litres. We discuss further about the performance of each in the later sections.

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Food Processor Attachments

Usha FP 3811 comes with an elaborate food processor comprising several attachments. They include a chopping and kneading blade; discs for slicing, grating and shredding; a whisker and a citrus juicing attachment. The discs used for slicing, grating and shredding have to be inserted into a disc holder and then fixed in the food processor bowl.

This model also comes with a separate centrifugal juicer. The juicer bowl comes with a juicer mesh you typically see in centrifugal juicers and also has an anti-drip spout using which you can collect juice simultaneously while juicing. Its feeding chute measures 7.5cm in diameter. So, you can feed fruits and vegetables slicing them just in halves

Motor Housing

The Usha FP 3811 comes with a 1000-watt motor. Its motor housing has a squarish shape. Using the knob, you can pulse and set the speed at two levels. However, unlike high-end options, it doesn’t come with a power indicator.

An advantage of this motor housing over all others we have so far reviewed is that it has a storage drawer for keeping the food processor’s slicing, grating, and shredding discs. Also, the food processor doesn’t start working unless the bowl and the lid of the bowl are properly fixed in place- a much needed safety feature in food processors.

Food Processor Performance

The food processor bowl of Usha FP 3811 comes with a 3.5 L capacity. As mentioned earlier, the food processor is capable of 8 different functions. Let us take a look at how it performs each.

Slicing

The slicing disc is reversible. One side slices thinly and the other a bit more thickly. The thin configuration is apt for slicing onions for curries and biriyani, while the thicker configuration is apt for salad.

One of the first things we did with the thin slicer was to slice tomatoes as it gives a fairly good idea of how sharp the blades are. But, as the slicer was too thin, it mushed the tomatoes a little bit. But we were able to slice them properly using the thicker side, albeit some of the juice dripped.

Next, we sliced about 6-8 onions for making Biriyani. Within less than 30 seconds, it was able to slice them thinly and evenly. However, just like any other food processor, some chunks were stuck onto the slicing disc without getting processed.

Using the slicing attachment, you can slice a variety of ingredients like carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, beetroot, green banana, bitter gourd, and so on. The feeding chute measures 5.5 x 7.5cm, which is sufficient to feed medium-sized fruits and vegetables without cutting them.

Related reading: Best Food Processors In India

Grating

The grating disc of the food processor grates too finely. It can be used for grating cheese, carrot, beetroot and such firm vegetables. But the ingredient gets stuck on the disc as shown in the image below.

The manual says it can be used for grating ginger and garlic. However, when we tried to do so, a large chunk was stuck in the grating disc and a lot of juice oozed out from the ginger. The results were rather disappointing. So, we would recommend using it only for firm, large ingredients.

Shredding

The shredding disc too is reversible. Using the side with large grates, you can shred or rather julienne ingredients in a large size. Just like the shredding tool, it can be used for processing carrot, beetroot, potatoes, cheese, paneer and such firm ingredients. Here again, a large chunk gets stuck to the disc without processing. This is something we have observed in almost all food processors.

The reverse side of the shredding disc has too small grates. It appears just like the grating disc. Hence, it is not of much use for most.

Chopping and Mincing

The chopping blade comes with plastic guards to protect the user from the sharp blades when handling them. The blades can be locked onto the spindle and there is hardly 2-3 mm gap between the blade and the bottom of the bowl, resulting in even chopping.

We tried chopping herbs like coriander and mint, onion, carrot, beetroot, etc and the results were satisfactory. The ingredients were chopped fairly uniformly and in less than 30 seconds.

We also minced 300 gm of chicken cubes using the chopping blade. Again, it was able to mince into a fine consistency in no time.

Overall, its performance was satisfactory. Compared to Inalsa Inox 1000 food processor, the chopping performance was far better and finer.

Kneading

The kneading blade of the food processor is made of plastic, just like every other food processor. The manual says you need to add 60 gm of water for 100 gm of flour. We used 200 gm of flour and 120 ml water for making dough using the food processor. We added water little by little. But 120 ml was not enough. We had to add around 15 ml more to combine the crumbs and make a dough out of it. If in case the dough gets sticky, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of flour through the chute to knead it properly. The whole process was done in less than a minute.

You may take a few tries to get the right proportion of water and flour. But once you get it right, you will be able to knead dough in no time. The manual states that you can knead 400 gm of flour at a go in the food processor. It also warns not to run the processor for more than a minute as it could result in the food processor jerking a lot.

Whisking

Using the whisking tool, you can whip egg whites and cream to a soft peak. You can also whisk egg for omlette. However, using it, you cannot whip to a stiff peak.

Citrus Juicing

The citrus juicing attachment is as seen in all food processors. It locks in place so that juicing can be done smoothly. You can juice an orange in just a minute. Overall, its performance is adequate, just like every other food processor we tried.

Centrifugal Juicing

The centrifugal juicer is a seperate bowl and attachments that is similar to what is seen in a juicer mixer grinder. It has a juicer mesh, pulp collector, lid with feeding chute and pusher.

The juicer does not start operations unless it is securely locked in place. And unlike the food processing bowl, it is a bit difficult to lock it in place. You have to look at the markings at the side and ensure that it is properly locked. We had to hug the juicer bowl and rotate it to lock it correctly.

We tried making juices with different ingredients. First, we tried making pomegranate juice from 2 pomegranates. The pomegranate seeds bounce off the mesh filter and lands in the pulp collector without getting squeezed. This is probably because the mesh filter rotates at a very high speed. As a result, the juice yield is quite low. The leftover pulp retains a lot of juice.

Even when juicing carrots and apples, the results are the same. The pulp retains a lot of juice, affecting the juice yield drastically. Yet another disadvantage of the juicer is that it is difficult to clean. The pulp collector is very narrow and it is difficult to remove the pulp from it. Sometimes, bits and pieces of the pulp gets trapped in certain crevices which seem almost inaccessible. It takes a lot of time and effort to clean the pulp collector.

Compared to juicer mixer grinders like Havells Stilus, Sujata Powermatic and Philips Amaze, the results are not quite satisfactory. But compared to other food processor with juicer like Preethi Zodiac and Inalsa Inox 1000, Usha FP 3811 does a better job.

Grinding Performance

The Usha FP 3811 comes with 3 jars for grinding a variety of ingredients. We tried them out and this is what we found.

The multipurpose jar has a gross capacity of 1.2 litres. But, can be filled only to 2/3rd its capacity- so 800 ml. Using it, we first tried grinding soaked-urad for making idli batter. We used 100 gm of urad soaked in 150 ml water for 5 hours. We ran the mixer grinder for 45 seconds and it was able to grind the urad into a very fine consistency.

We ground the rice for the batter in the blending jar. We used 250 gm of dosa rice soaked in 300 ml of water for 5 hours. We had to run it for about a minute at high speed to get it to the desired fine-grain consistency. Overall, it did take a bit more time than Sujata Dynamix, which we adjudge as the best mixer grinder we tested. But, other than a slightly longer run time, it did a good job and did not heat up the batter too much either.

However, the chutney jar does not do a perfect job. We made coconut chutney using it and found that it did not grind the entire quantity of coconut as smoothly as we wanted. Some of it was ground smoothly, and some were coarse. When mixed with water, the coarse bits were floating and we had to grind it again. Overall, it doesn’t do a great job. This we deduce is because the blades of the jar lie about a centimeter from the bottom of the jar.

You will find it especially bothersome when grinding small quantities of ingredients into a smooth consistency. We found that when grinding small quantities of ginger and garlic to make it a paste, some of the garlic pieces were stuck in the gap between the blade and the bottom and remained ungrounded.

Even the dry grinding performance is poor. We tried grinding garam masala in the multipurpose jar and a lot of coarse bits and pieces were left after sieving. It was the worst among the various mixer grinders, blenders and food processors we tested.

Noise Level

The food processor is moderately loud while running. It makes around 90-94 dB noise, which is almost at par with what you find in Preethi, Sujata etc. That being said, as the motor housing has a hollow area to keep the blades, the sound feels louder than it actually is.

Ease of Cleaning

The food processor and the jars of Usha FP 3811 are fairly easy to clean. It is straightforward without many crevices and difficult to reach nooks. But, the centrifugal juicer attachment is not quite so. As mentioned earlier, it is difficult to clean the pulp collector as pulp gets trapped in certain nooks that are difficult to reach. We had to use toothpicks to clean such areas. The mesh filter can be cleaned using a plastic scrub or toothbrush.

Safety Features

Compared to other food processors, Usha FP 3811 has a number of safety features. First of all, just like Inalsa Inox 1000, it doesn’t start operations unless the jar/bowl and the food processor lid are secured in place. Hence, accidents are likely to be lesser.

The chopping blade comes with a plastic safety guard which protects you from the sharp blade when handling it. Also, it was the only option with safe storage space for the discs.

The unit doesn’t have an overload switch. However, as per the manual, in case the unit gets overheated, it stops working and resumes only after 30 minutes, once it cools down.

Warranty and After-Sales Service

The Usha FP 3811 comes with a 2-year overall product warranty and a 5-year motor warranty. According to user reviews, Usha’s aftersales network is rather poor. They do not respond to complaints promptly enough.

Comparison With Other Similar Models

Usha FP 3811 is a full-fledged food processor that has several functionalities. If you do not want to have the centrifugal juicer attachment that comes with FP 3811, you can opt for Usha FP3810. Its food processing attachments are also a bit different. Its chopping and kneading blades come with an attached spindle. Also, its slicing and grating discs are integrated. One side slices finely and the other grates finely. Using another disc, you can slice thickly and grate coarsely. You also get a french fries slicer. Overall, its attachments are quite similar to Inalsa Inox 1000 food processor, except for the centrifugal juicer attachment.

Otherwise, compared to Inalsa Inox 1000, Usha FP 3811 fares a lot better in terms of chopping, slicing, and especially its centrifugal juicing performance. It is pretty close in terms of performance with Preethi Zodiac too. In fact, if a centrifugal juicer is a priority, we would recommend Usha FP 3811 over Preethi Zodiac. But, Usha FP 3811 is more expensive than all the other options we tried so far.

Conclusion

Overall, Usha FP 3811 offers superior food processing capabilities in terms of kneading, slicing, grating, and chopping ingredients. Its mixer grinder jars too work optimally. The manufacturers have taken enough care to incorporate better safety features. However, the centrifugal juicer is a letdown. Price-wise too, it is more expensive than others.

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